Sunbell shines for treble-winning Cruz

Derek Cruz burst back into the limelight with a treble at Sha Tin yesterday but promising four-year-old Sunbell may be headed for a break if his colourful owners bow to the trainer's wishes.

Coming off his career-best season in 2001-02, Cruz has found the winners harder to come by this term, but thanks to Good Fit (Howard Cheng), Sunbell (Michael Walker) and Joy Fay Fay (Weichong Marwing) he was able to press the accelerator yesterday to reach 26 wins.

'You just have to be patient here and the winners always come,' Cruz said, then turned his thoughts to the current apple of his eye, Sunbell.

The gelding by Clang - recently the sire of the AJC Derby winner in Sydney - made it three wins from four starts as he stepped up to 1,600 metres for the first time, dispensing with a competitive Class Three field in the Purves Quaich and backing up his trainer's high opinion.

'Like everyone says, he's nothing to look at, but he does the job,' Cruz said. 'Sunbell's only small, though, and if the owners agree I would like to end his season now and give him a break and hopefully give him a chance to strengthen. I'm hoping that during the summer Sunbell can put on 50 or 60 pounds and build up.'

The Bunch of Bankers Syndicate, which races Sunbell, is probably not going to object, since neither horse nor trainer has done much wrong. The group comprises people from the structured finance department at HSBC, many of them first-time racehorse owners.

But they make sure they are seen flying their colours whenever Sunbell races, all wearing their specially designed 'Bunch of Bankers' ties - and the idea does not seem so silly when the horse can gallop like Sunbell does.

'The syndicate was originally on the reserve list for the permit but a couple of applicants pulled out,' said member Michael Caddy.

'Originally we thought we would just get a horse of some kind then use the replacement rules to trade up to a good one,' added Caddy, also an owner in his own right of smart middle-distance horse Rebel Leader and the Geoff Lane-trained San Benito. 'But when the previous owner was unable to maintain the commitments for Sunbell, he became available. We canvassed a few of the good judges in town about the horse, he got the thumbs up and we got him for $400,000.'

When some syndicate members heard New Zealand whizz-kid Michael Walker would come to Hong Kong and was able to ride light, they asked Cruz to put Walker up on the little gelding if possible.

'I'm impressed with him,' Walker said after unsaddling his second winner here. 'He's not very big, he's not pretty but Sunbell has a tremendous stride and a beautiful action. He's got it where it counts, too. He really puts his heart into it.

'I don't know whether he'd be up to Group class racing, but the feel of him suggests he can go all the way through to Class One.'

Cruz's Joy Fay Fay also prevailed over a strong field in the Swaine Cup over 1,000 metres and it won't be the last we see of the sharp three-year-old in the winner's circle.

'He ran very well behind my brother Tony's horse, Super Brose, at Happy Valley and I thought he had come on from that,' Cruz said.

'He's a decent young horse and is improving. With so many good straight-track sprinters in Hong Kong, you don't underestimate winning a race like this. They're never easy.'

While some of his rivals drawn closer to the inside headed outwards on the expectation that the grandstand rail might be a faster section of the course, Marwing stayed near the inside from gate one in the second leg of his winning double. Even as far out as the 400 metres, it was clear the group on the inside was leading and Joy Fay Fay wound up making a one-act affair of the race.

But while Sunbell and Joy Fay Fay have most of their careers ahead of them, his first winner, Good Fit, is a seven-year-old.

'He's been a great servant of the stable, this veteran,' Cruz said. 'He's won six races and $3 million in stakes. Now and again, when the luck and the tempo allow, he bobs up and that's what happened today.'

Good Fit was the first leg of Cheng's winning double, with the rider adding Main Attraction later in the card, and proved too strong for Perpetual Pleasure over the 1,800 metres of the Cheung Cup for his second win over the course.

'He's been a good, solid horse but now his owners have a new one, a young Private Purchase Griffin, and I have high hopes for him, too,' Cruz said.